Motte féodale

The site of the motte, on a rocky promontory overlooking the Vègre river, hides a real historical mille-feuille that probably dates back to ancient times: Gallo-Roman ruins (I°-III° centuries) of a public establishment at the crossing of two Roman roads. A vast Merovingian necropolis (6th century). A feudal mound (11th century) with its castle, destroyed during the Hundred Years' War. A new castle (18th century) which was used in 1791 for the first telecommunications experiment by the Chappe brothers, inventors of the optical telegraph and first ancestors of the internet It was followed by a bourgeois residence (19th century) and then by small low-rent housing developments (20th century). Today the site is recognized by archaeologists, protected, and awaits the excavations that will bring to light its two thousand year old past. An explanatory panel is available at the corner of Rue du Pavé and Rue de la Douve.